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I have thought about that too. I need to find an old BBQ that has one of those round 3 hole adjustable vents and drill the lid and put it in. That might just do it. I also need to drill a 1/8" hole in the lid so I can put in a thermostat to see exactally how hot it is, or isn't!

Mark

Congratulations to Mr. "the sky is falling" Al Gore, nominated the new Village Idiot!

I have thought about that too. I need to find an old BBQ that has one of those round 3 hole adjustable vents and drill the lid and put it in. That might just do it. I also need to drill a 1/8" hole in the lid so I can put in a thermostat to see exactally how hot it is, or isn't!

Mark

meister,
for our brinkman I drilled a larger hole and inserted a cork plug as an insulator to put my thermometer through,it holds the thermometer really well.

Comment

Sir, YOU ARE THE DANGEROUS ONE, I happen to teach electricity and YOU for sure are clueless. As you suggested to add a load in parallel that would DO NOTHING to change the voltage across the smoker coil and therefore would not help with the gentlemens problem. ONLY adding a load in series with the smoker coil would reduce the voltage and hence the temperature. Other than reducing the voltage to the coil there will be no affect on the temerature unless a thermostat was added somehow to cycle the coil on and off. You had better go back and study my friend. Lou

The voltage will remain the same in parallel and the amperage will be split between the devices. Reduce the amps or the voltage and you will reduce the power.

Bluecon, Lou is absolutely correct. Let's make it simple so you can understand it. Let us have one 60 W light bulb connected to 120 V. Would you agree that you have about 1/2 amp flowing through the bulb? So now you put another 60 W light bulb in parallel with the first one. By your reasoning the first bulb would dim because it is now drawing half the current. What really happens is that the total current flow is now 1 amp with each bulb drawing 1/2 amp each. Just think of your house wiring. All the devices on each circuit are in parallel and that is why your lights don't dim when you turn more on.

When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.

Comment

Well, i've tried more things to lower the temp in my smoker. Venting at the top made it hotter. More air flow I guess. I vented the bottom but it made no change. I tried using cold water in the water pan, that helped for about 15 minutes untill the water heated up. I used a real thermometer and its running about 280 degrees! Their own book says 200-210 is best.

I had a thought last night. How about a vairable speed control that is used to control brush type motors? I can get them cheap but wonder if they can handle 1200 watts for 2-4 hours continuesly. Any thoughts? I can get them on eBay for about 30 bucks with shipping. Max rating so far as i've seen is 15 amps.

Comment

I don't have one so I can't test it for you, try posting question in the woodworking forum, ask someone who owns one to plug in a table lamp with an incandescent bulb (not fluorescent) and see if they can dim it, if it dims a bulb it should work for your application.

Comment

What a shame. If it were a 15 Amp one you would be able to really love that smoker. A 10 Amp one would just work but I like a safety factor. If you were near me, I would loan you one of mine to try.

I got lucky some time ago when a serious Ham Radio guy had to move and sold off his goodies.

Keep your eyes and ears open. Do be very careful of eBay as many of them are real junkers or they end up that way due to shipping damages. They are heavy and have to be packed by people that know how to do it.

If you want a good one fully reconditioned I can put you in touch with a very good place. I'll have to warn you they aren't cheap but then maybe having some great meals would make it all worthwhile.

By the way "Mr Woussko" is real nice of you. Most of the time I'm called **** ****.

PS If your Variac is in good condition, I bet you could work a trade-in deal or sell it outright. There are three good USA brands to think about. General Radio (The real Variac), STACO and Superior Electric - Powerstat... The ones from China are only good for paper weights and making smoke.

PSS This is getting me wild so look out as Santa may pay you an early visit. This time he/she will be driving a brown truck. LOL

Comment

Let's say he did use a buck/boost transformer. If connected to buck by 12 Volts then he would have 108 Volts if the input really is 120. At 108 Volts a heater rated 1200 Watts at 120 Volts would put out 972 Watts. If bucked by 24 Volts down to 96 Volts then the heater would run at 768 Watts.

I really think he wants a nice beefy (15 Amp or heavier) adjustable autoformer like a Variac so he can set it to the Voltage that ends up correct for cooking-smoking. At times it might change.

Here in the USA there are loads of just what he needs. The problem is finding a nice honest seller. Too many of us that know what they are worth won't sell one cheap. The low cost ones on eBay may look good but be a real mess inside. I'm sure some are fine, but it takes luck buying anything on eBay or such.

Maybe TWM will win some $$$ and can buy a good one.

Please click the thumbnail picture and have a look. That's not my paw in the picture.

Comment

The original poster of this thread wants to lower the temp on the smoker. The smoker is 1200 watts which draws about 10 amps. Ultimately a VARIAC is the right tool for this job, the original poster says he does not want to spend the money on a VARIAC since it will cost about $100.00. The poster is looking for a CHEAP way to reduce the heat on the smoker, the only way to reduce the heat to the smoker is to lower the voltage to the smoker coil. The simple and cheapest way to do this (not the best way mind you) is to put a high wattage or a couple of high wattage light bulbs in series with the hot leg going to the smoker. I would think if the smoker coil voltage was reduced from 120 volts to about 90 volts, that should make it much less hot Using 2 300 watt light bulbs in series with the hot leg going to the smoker will do the trick. If more voltage is needed, lower the light bulb wattage to 2 200 watt bulbs. Not the best way, but cerainly the cheapest compared to a variac. Lou

Comment

T W M
By the way "Mr Woussko" is real nice of you. Most of the time I'm called **** ****.
PS If your Variac is in good condition, I bet you could work a trade-in deal or sell it outright. There are three good USA brands to think about. General Radio (The real Variac), STACO and Superior Electric - Powerstat... The ones from China are only good for paper weights and making smoke.
PSS This is getting me wild so look out as Santa may pay you an early visit. This time he/she will be driving a brown truck. LOL

So how do you pronounce your name? **** ****?

What is the PSS about? LOL

I've been watching eBay on the model I have and they don't sell for much. I may just go back to charcoal, it's easier to control, unless the router speed control ends up working.

Mark

Congratulations to Mr. "the sky is falling" Al Gore, nominated the new Village Idiot!